South Australia Becomes the First Battery Powered State

The joined US-French venture has shown “that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible,” the super-battery producing company TSLA stated.

Tesla’s monstrous $50 million battery storage solution for South Australia

(Newswire.net -- December 4, 2017) -- Tesla installed the world’s biggest battery in Australia to fight electrical power shortages in its southern region.

The world’s biggest Lithium-Ion battery, charged by wind turbine farms which ensure that Southern Australia never runs out of power, has been powered up on Tuesday, VOA reports.

It is the joint venture of The Tesla (TSLA) company that installed a 100 megawatt lithium ion battery and French energy company Neoen that runs the wind farm with 99 wind turbines. The battery is Located near Jamestown, about 200 kilometers north of Adelaide.

Tesla’s monstrous $50 million battery storage solution is made up of approximately 640 Tesla Powerpacks (129MWh) or roughly the amount of batteries used in 1,300 Model S or Model X 100D consumer vehicles, Teslarati.com estimates.

According to a CNN tech report, Musk promised 100 days delivery deadline or the company would produce and install the super-battery for free. Tesla’s engineers managed to deliver what’s promised significantly before the deadline.

"Congratulations to the Tesla crew and South Australian authorities who worked so hard to get this manufactured and installed in record time!" Tesla’s founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted Thursday.

The premier of South Australia Jay Weatherill believes the new battery will guarantee energy supplies to the region that suffers frequent power shortages. Due to the challenges of power transportation and increase in usage, people can now live without worrying about electricity cuts.

“People were making fun of South Australia for its leadership in renewable energy and blaming it for the black-out," said Weatherill.

"That, of course, has now been debunked as a myth. We now know that our leadership in renewable energy is not only leading the nation but leading the world, and we are more than happy to supply our beautiful renewable energy stored in a battery to help out the national electricity market,” the VOA quoted South Australia’s premier.

The world’s largest Li-Ion battery can power up to 30,000 people for about an hour, which in a region of 1.7 million people is not remotely sufficient, the project critics say, adding that the benefit of the super-battery is exaggerated.

It may not be enough, but it is a start, and surely better than nothing, supporters reply. Also, the venture proves “that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible,” the California based company stated.

The bulk of Australia’s electricity is still generated by coal, and the nation is one of the world’s worst per capita emitters of greenhouses gases.